Strimmer Recommendation?

Shefwedfan

Ok, need to invest in strimmer and no idea where to start.

It will just be used for cutting around edges of lawn, don't mind investing a few quid but don't want to waste money either.

Just looking for recommendations? Are there any decent cheaper brands?

Thanks

veetwin

If it's just for trimming around a lawn and you can afford it cordless is the way to go. Much nicer to use and quieter than petrol. I have both and only use the petrol one for serious clearing as it's much stronger. I have a Husqvarna cordless but I'm sure there are cheaper available.

kadman

Trimmer mower, and buy from the UK.

I just spent a torturous fortnight listening to delivery lies, dates ect from Irish suppliers,
culminating in not being able to get a forthright honest answer about when I would get delivery.

So..

Sourced the same unit on the internet, with a longer guarantee for exactly the same machine,
and delivered to my door for 100 euro less than the irish suppliers quoted me,

and thats even allowing for courier.

Brexit will no doubt sort the dogs from the pups.

3 cents

Shefwedfan

veetwin wrote: »

If it's just for trimming around a lawn and you can afford it cordless is the way to go. Much nicer to use and quieter than petrol. I have both and only use the petrol one for serious clearing as it's much stronger. I have a Husqvarna cordless but I'm sure there are cheaper available.

Checked out a wired option and 6m seems to be the standard cable. I have 1 acre spread out so that isn't an option

Are the cordless electric up to the job?

I plan on trimming after I cut the lawn, at the moment I am mulching the lawn 2 times a week. So I won't let grass go long but if it does go that bit longer will the battery work?

Shefwedfan

kadman wrote: »

Trimmer mower, and buy from the UK.

I just spent a torturous fortnight listening to delivery lies, dates ect from Irish suppliers,
culminating in not being able to get a forthright honest answer about when I would get delivery.

So..

Sourced the same unit on the internet, with a longer guarantee for exactly the same machine,
and delivered to my door for 100 euro less than the irish suppliers quoted me,

and thats even allowing for courier.

Brexit will no doubt sort the dogs from the pups.

3 cents

I can honestly say I never heard of Trimmer Mower, is this the type of thing you bought? http://www.drpower.com/power-equipment/corded-and-cordless-yard-tools/cordless/dr-cordless-24v-string-trimmer-prompt.axd

enricoh

Shefwedfan wrote: »

Checked out a wired option and 6m seems to be the standard cable. I have 1 acre spread out so that isn't an option

Are the cordless electric up to the job?

I plan on trimming after I cut the lawn, at the moment I am mulching the lawn 2 times a week. So I won't let grass go long but if it does go that bit longer will the battery work?

1 acre , forget cordless. Have a tanaka over 10 years, think I changed the spark plug in that time

mobfromcork

Just spent the last few days researching for my folks. The pound is very weak against the euro at the moment so buying from the UK is probably a good option.
Depending on what you're cutting this might be a good buy. Only £10 delivery to Ireland and will have it 2 days later according to their website. It works out around €210 euro. Cheapest I've seen it here is around €300.


http://www.sam-turner.co.uk/garden-machinery/stihl-strimmer-fs50-c-e.html#.WXMetNPytZi

It at the cheaper/smaller end of the Stihl range but if it's only for grass it should be sufficient. I have an Stihl FS260 ,bought last year for a 2 acre site, which is a great machine for rough work - rushes, brambles etc but is probably overkill just for grass.

I prefer spending my money locally where possible but sometimes the price difference is just too large. What I have done recently when buying tools/gardening equipment etc is go to the Irish shop, have a look around and see the tool/product in the flesh and get what they can offer you. Then explain that you'd like to buy from them and keep the money locally but they are far more expensive than the delivered price online. Ask them is they can do any better on the price and they'll normally come down a bit. You can decide then if it's close enough to the online price to justify going with them. It is convenient that they are nearby if anything goes wrong and you usually get to go home with it on the day. It's also beneficial to keep the money locally I think for a variety of reasons.

As enricoh mentioned, tanaka seem to be a very good buy as well. I looked into the cordless options but they seem to be hugely expensive, especially for the large capacity batteries.

Shefwedfan

mobfromcork wrote: »

Just spent the last few days researching for my folks. The pound is very weak against the euro at the moment so buying from the UK is probably a good option.
Depending on what you're cutting this might be a good buy. Only £10 delivery to Ireland and will have it 2 days later according to their website. It works out around €210 euro. Cheapest I've seen it here is around €300.


http://www.sam-turner.co.uk/garden-machinery/stihl-strimmer-fs50-c-e.html#.WXMetNPytZi

It at the cheaper/smaller end of the Stihl range but if it's only for grass it should be sufficient. I have an Stihl FS260 ,bought last year for a 2 acre site, which is a great machine for rough work - rushes, brambles etc but is probably overkill just for grass.

I prefer spending my money locally where possible but sometimes the price difference is just too large. What I have done recently when buying tools/gardening equipment etc is go to the Irish shop, have a look around and see the tool/product in the flesh and get what they can offer you. Then explain that you'd like to buy from them and keep the money locally but they are far more expensive than the delivered price online. Ask them is they can do any better on the price and they'll normally come down a bit. You can decide then if it's close enough to the online price to justify going with them. It is convenient that they are nearby if anything goes wrong and you usually get to go home with it on the day. It's also beneficial to keep the money locally I think for a variety of reasons.

As enricoh mentioned, tanaka seem to be a very good buy as well. I looked into the cordless options but they seem to be hugely expensive, especially for the large capacity batteries.

Excellent find to be honest. I like Stihl, bought Viking mower so might be handy to stay with Stihl and get someone to service everything at sametime......

Out of interest did you buy? It looks like the harness is not included ?

Shefwedfan

veetwin wrote: »

If it's just for trimming around a lawn and you can afford it cordless is the way to go. Much nicer to use and quieter than petrol. I have both and only use the petrol one for serious clearing as it's much stronger. I have a Husqvarna cordless but I'm sure there are cheaper available.

I do like the idea of cordless as I am moving as many items to electric if possible. Then going to invest in PV

Which model do you have if you don't mind me asking? How long would it go before battery is dead?

mobfromcork

Shefwedfan wrote: »

Excellent find to be honest. I like Stihl, bought Viking mower so might be handy to stay with Stihl and get someone to service everything at sametime......

Out of interest did you buy? It looks like the harness is not included ?

Just sent them on the link yesterday so don't think they bought yet. Think you can get harness from the same site for small enough money.

august12

kadman wrote:

Trimmer mower, and buy from the UK.

Can you pm me what model and where you purchased please, what was the price. Never knew about these until I read your post, seem to be easier to operate than hand held strimmer.

veetwin

Shefwedfan wrote: »

I do like the idea of cordless as I am moving as many items to electric if possible. Then going to invest in PV

Which model do you have if you don't mind me asking? How long would it go before battery is dead?

I have the Husqvarna 136LiC with a BLi80 battery. Will do about 20 to 30 minutes light strimming which should be more than enough for a 1 acre lawn. If I was buying again i would get the BLi120 and probably will get one any way as back up. I use mine professionally though.

As I said it's super light and quiet and a pleasure to use compared to a petrol one. That said it's only for light stuff.

4068ac1elhodqr

I've a cordless Qualcast, cheap as chips, light and shares it's 24v 4000mah battery with the mower (hot swap-able), thus is probably overpowered for what it does. The build is very light and fully plastic but for what it's doing should last a few years.

Shefwedfan

veetwin wrote: »

I have the Husqvarna 136LiC with a BLi80 battery. Will do about 20 to 30 minutes light strimming which should be more than enough for a 1 acre lawn. If I was buying again i would get the BLi120 and probably will get one any way as back up. I use mine professionally though.

As I said it's super light and quiet and a pleasure to use compared to a petrol one. That said it's only for light stuff.

So strimmer would be £230, battery £125 BLi120 and charger £27

Feck it ain't cheap....

veetwin

Shefwedfan wrote: »

So strimmer would be £230, battery £125 BLi120 and charger £27

Feck it ain't cheap....

Are they £ or € ?

Charger I thought was more than that. Definitely not cheap alright.

mobfromcork

Shefwedfan wrote: »

Excellent find to be honest. I like Stihl, bought Viking mower so might be handy to stay with Stihl and get someone to service everything at sametime......

Out of interest did you buy? It looks like the harness is not included ?

Quick update. Just ordered it there. Had to add the harness alright. Dad wanted the deluxe or padded harness which was an extra £21 or the basic one was £11. It came to £206 with 2-3 working day delivery with DPD which is €230. One spool of Stihl line included as well.

kadman

august12 wrote: »

Can you pm me what model and where you purchased please, what was the price. Never knew about these until I read your post, seem to be easier to operate than hand held strimmer.

www.thegreenreaper.co.uk

Tondu HWTL Wheeled Trimmer Mower approx 345 euro delivered,

best price here was 455, and delivery er..whenever, plus courier charge.

youtube them to see

august12

kadman wrote:

Tondu HWTL Wheeled Trimmer Mower approx 345 euro delivered,

kadman wrote:

Tondu HWTL Wheeled Trimmer Mower approx 345 euro delivered,

Thanks for the info

Shefwedfan

kadman wrote: »

www.thegreenreaper.co.uk

Tondu HWTL Wheeled Trimmer Mower approx 345 euro delivered,

best price here was 455, and delivery er..whenever, plus courier charge.

youtube them to see

Serious piece of equipment, would expect professionals might require but might be a bit overkill for cutting a bit of grass around the edges of a lawn

Shefwedfan

Zaiden Faint Landlady wrote: »

I've a cordless Qualcast, cheap as chips, light and shares it's 24v 4000mah battery with the mower (hot swap-able), thus is probably overpowered for what it does. The build is very light and fully plastic but for what it's doing should last a few years.

Where you buy? model? thanks

Roen

Have a Makita 18v strimmer. Edges an acre handy on one charge with a 4Ah battery. Got it on Amazon over a year ago and it's tipping on well. Was about £90 delivered.

Caveat: I stick to grass, willowherb, usual lawn weeds and the odd bit of bracken and thistle if they aren't too thick.

If you're going battery powered think about the range that the manufacturer makes. I have a drill, an impact driver, a strimmer and a 36v hedge trimmer that all take the same battery. The hedge trimmer takes two of the 18v battery and Makita also make a stronger strimmer that takes two batteries should you have robust weeds to go at.

The batteries are reasonable, I've recently picked up a 5Ah for less than €90 to go with the two 4Ah ones I have.

You could end up with quite a few tools over the years and it's a lot handier if they all take the same battery.

Lemlin

Would this be a good battery machine?

http://www.sam-turner.co.uk/garden-machinery/stihl-cordless-strimmer-fsa65-kit.html

Shefwedfan

veetwin wrote: »

I have the Husqvarna 136LiC with a BLi80 battery. Will do about 20 to 30 minutes light strimming which should be more than enough for a 1 acre lawn. If I was buying again i would get the BLi120 and probably will get one any way as back up. I use mine professionally though.

As I said it's super light and quiet and a pleasure to use compared to a petrol one. That said it's only for light stuff.

Is this similar to what you have? http://www.sam-turner.co.uk/husqvarna-cordless-grass-trimmer-115il-domestic-kit.html#.WXT5rmei4n1

Shefwedfan

Ok due to some untimely weddings the budget has been cut....by a good bit

SO plan now is get cheap and cheerful and then invest in something next year if required

I like the idea of battery and electric so what would be recommended as cheap option?

All this is for is longer grass that I can't get with tractor mower, no heavy weeds or anything

Shefwedfan

http://www.sam-turner.co.uk/garden-machinery/stihl-cordless-grass-trimmer-fsa-56-compact.html#.WXb7Zmei4n0

I have decided to spend a few quid in the end. Was looking at the following, anyone have one?

Shefwedfan

Shefwedfan wrote: »

http://www.sam-turner.co.uk/garden-machinery/stihl-cordless-grass-trimmer-fsa-56-compact.html#.WXb7Zmei4n0

I have decided to spend a few quid in the end. Was looking at the following, anyone have one?

Might do the job https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d2uByOhTGKA

operator6

I recently bought a strimmer/brush cutter from www timberpro-uk com. Have used it a few times, cutting some hard brush, and long grass/weeds - it worked fantastically well. Great reviews and I agree with them. Comes with harness, 3 x brush-cutting blades (3, 4, and 8 tine blades), an automatic line strimmer head, and tools. Japanese manufactured (stamped into the metal on some parts), good construction, and powerful. The model is: TIMBERPRO 2in1 Strimmer Brush Cutter. Total costs, delivered to rural north west in ireland, €130. Quick delivery

Shefwedfan

To be honest on this I think I am looking at it too long. Maybe some advice.

So really it is down to the Stihl petrol v husqvarna electric. The Stihl electric ships with smaller battery so I don't think it would be up to job. I don't have the cash to buy larger battery etc

Petrol
Benefit: It can run longer and if it goes out of fuel I just throw in some petrol
Disadvantage: Petrol, plus I have to mix the petrol which is messy and I have no idea mixtures rates etc. They ain't light either

Electric
Benefit: No petrol and very light weight, so my wife says she would be willing to use it(I wont hold my breath on that one)
Disadvantage: Will I get around the garden on single charge, or will I do some, run out of power and then have to charge

Any thoughts?

Shaunoc

Shefwedfan wrote: »

Petrol
Benefit: It can run longer and if it goes out of fuel I just throw in some petrol
Disadvantage: Petrol, plus I have to mix the petrol which is messy and I have no idea mixtures rates etc. They ain't light either

Any thoughts?

I'm using Stihl petrol strimmer last few days and find it a pleasure. It's a job I seem to like.
I got myself good strimmer line and no probs. Mixing the fuel is straightfwd - 1:50 i think from memory and i mix 5 litres at a time.

Shefwedfan

https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B00IJEEGHW/ref=s9u_simh_gw_i3?ie=UTF8&fpl=fresh&pd_rd_i=B00IJEEGHW&pd_rd_r=91RCKNX6EJ367MXJC4B1&pd_rd_w=JOKC9&pd_rd_wg=frZjN&pf_rd_m=A3P5ROKL5A1OLE&pf_rd_s=&pf_rd_r=C6RDKR5SNRH1041N7P83&pf_rd_t=36701&pf_rd_p=e586113b-1187-49e7-b25c-760581bc9374&pf_rd_i=desktop&th=1

Anyone have experience of this? A lot of good reviews.....

JimFin

I purchased this multi tool a while back: http://www.lawnsandgardens.ie/index_files/ProPlusMultifunctionGardenTool.htm

Find it very good for both hedges and grass. The changeable head works very well IMO. I used to have an older Stihl with handlebars on it and a harness which I found much easier on my back. This one come with a single shoulder harness but for the life of me I can figure out how to wear it without all the pressure being on my neck!

I'd recommend it however for small to medium sized cuts where user is looking for a multi tool.

cheif kaiser

Just purchased this a few days ago

http://www.sam-turner.co.uk/garden-machinery/husqvarna-trimmer-122c.html#.WX0iSYjytPY

and

http://www.sam-turner.co.uk/garden-machinery/husqvarna-blower-125b.html#.WX0ikYjytPY

Total cost €335.35 including delivery which was 2 day express.

Both are excellent machines and the exact same models in a very well known Irish 'Tools' shop would be €608.99

It definitely pays to shop around

Shefwedfan

Finally decided to go with Stihl FSA 56. Ordered today so hope to have for weekend and get the jobs done

mr chips

Only just looked at this thread, so I'm sorry I appear to be a day late with this recommendation!  But if anyone else wants a battery strimmer/brushcutter you might be able to order this online from UK -
http://diy.com/departments/mac-allister-mbcp36-li-bare-cordless-brush-cutter/1584805_BQ.prd
Battery comes separately but I've been using one for the past 3 years or so and it's robust, well able to cope with going through even bigger thistles, brambles, reeds etc.  I have lots of stuff to get through in terms of sloping overgrown banks, spaces between trees etc.  Battery is 3 years old and has dropped now from giving me 30 minutes of cutting to about 25.  Takes an hour to recharge.  Brushcutter comes with a 2 year warranty. £75 for the strimmer and I think it was £35 or so for the battery.

Shefwedfan

Just checking for any feedback on the Stihl/Husqvarna mentioned above? In the end I didnt buy and just borrowed but looking at now...

Shefwedfan

Just wondering will any of the products be reduced for out of season?